Everyone has blind spots…. Those wonderful places where how we see ourselves is in blissful ignorance of how the rest of the world knows us to be. Blind spots also exist in organizations, often as cultural black holes of denial that threaten their very survival. Yet survive they do.

Surviving, however, is not the same as thriving.

To thrive, it is important to recognize that blind spots can undermine the integrity of even the most well-conceived brands, eroding relationships with customers and employees in the same way that one’s individual blind spots erode integrity and relationships at a personal level.

The challenge is that blind spots, by their very nature, are invisible to us. To build both your personal and brand integrity, you must be willing to do some digging, sweep away some cobwebs of denial, and clean off those filters so that you can finally see what you normally can’t – or simply don’t want to see.

Most organizations only consider two key areas when building their brand. First, they think about what they will look like at their best. Because most businesses these days recognize the power of branding, many begin building their brand before there is even a real business to base it on. The second area is in consideration of what the market actually wants. They look at the latest consumer trends and fads and try to ensure their brand hits as many of those “hot buttons” as possible. It is when they fail to honestly consider a third element  – the element of who and what they actually are – that they risk eroding their integrity in the marketplace.

First, let’s look at branding on the individual level. This is especially significant for small business where the product or service is often indistinguishable from the owner. Many people make the mistake of trying to portray themselves as something they are not because this is who they think they need to be to get business. In reality, it is more important that your personal brand is authentic than trendy.

My last hairstylist, T, is a perfect example of this. I stopped seeing him last year, despite being very happy with how he did my hair, after he made an offhanded comment about how recycling and other such environmental do-gooding were pointless. I knew that it was futile to try to convince him otherwise, but felt that in continuing to give him my business, I would be supporting this stance, so I switched to a salon that specializes in products that keep our environment and our bodies pollution-free.

I’m happier because I am now getting my hair needs met somewhere that more accurately reflects who I am and what I want to stand for. T, however, might get another client for the very same reason that I left. While you might not be on trend, being authentic makes it easier for the customers who resonate with you and your unique brand to find you.

Not only is it important to be clear on who you are, but on where you are on the growth curve. Several high-flying technology companies I’ve observed over the years went public early on because they were in the latest hot new market. Investor funds poured in, giving these companies the illusion that they were actually profitable. The reality was that they were not yet actually making money, only spending it. Of course, because they were all aspiring to be Google-esque, many began to immediately invest in all of the fun perks that such companies have become known for. Fitness trainers were hired. Gym memberships were purchased. This was a great perk for employees and carried some cachet in stories on them in the press, but it was neither realistic nor responsible to be spending investor money in this manner for the negative-cash-flow stage they were in.

Unfortunately many of those companies didn’t make that shift from promising idea to profitable product. It wasn’t because their idea was flawed, their staff were lazy, or even that they didn’t have a good brand. It was because the person captaining the ship was determined to see the company as being somewhere that it was not. It is great to have a vision of the kind of company you want to be, but it is harmful when this vision of who you want to be causes you to be blind to the reality of your current situation. This blindness is often the source of people and businesses alike putting the proverbial cart before the horse.

Ultimately, brand integrity comes from an alignment between what the market wants, who you say you are, and who you actually demonstrate yourself to be through your actions and decisions. At the end of the day, if you are true to this, you may end up targeting a smaller market niche, but that niche is far more likely to be ardent, loyal, fans of your business – and keep you afloat!

-Andrea Jacques (aka. kyoseigirl)

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